PLEASANT HILL, Ore. — Local high school students raised nearly $390,000 for the Children’s Miracle Network last year through Kids Helping Kids pageants, like Mr. Lancer, Mr. Wolverine and Mr. LHS.

This year’s efforts at the 2013 Kids Helping Kids Kickoff Conference.

The buses came as far as Reedsport.

Before things even got started Monday morning, the room buzzed with nervous energy. It was filled with dozens of high school girls and their pageant coordinators, from Harrisburg to Reedsport to Sheldon, ready to kick off the new Kids Helping Kids season.

“We have a big conference every year to help them get prepared for the year. We try to give them tools and skill sets that will help them beyond just the pageant,” said Alexa Sharp, Kids Helping Kids Organizer.

Tools like public speaking, interviewing and letter writing are invaluable for these young women. They are, after all, the brains behind the pageants that raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Children’s Miracle Network, like Mr. Irish.

“It’s also a way to say ‘Thank you’ and recognize them because they don’t always get the recognition that the boys do for being up there on stage and make a fool of themselves. So we try to give them a little bit of love and let them know they’re really a huge and important piece of the success of Kids Helping Kids and Children’s Miracle Network,” Sharp said.

The pageants are still a few months away, but now they’re all off to a great start.

“We try to at least kick off the year because the pageants really start in March, so we want to get them prepared and get them excited too about what’s about to come,” Sharp said.

Pleasant Hill’s community center played host to Monday’s conference. The town’s Mr. Billy Pageant is scheduled for April 27.